www.cscanada.org DOI:10.3968/13090
The Connotation, Value and Practical Direction of Life-Oriented Labor Education
LIANG Yujian
[a],*[a] Education Department of Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.
*Corresponding author.
Received 7 July 2023; accepted 19 August 2023 Published online 26 September 2023
Abstract
The life-oriented labor education is the inevitable result of labor education and real-life. In essence, labor education has the characteristics of life, which is mainly manifested in the fact that the goal of labor education pays attention to the needs of life, the content of labor education is related to the practice of life, and the implementation of labor education is based on the field of life. The life- oriented labor education is of great value, which can strengthen the sociality of labor education, highlight the practicality of labor education and create the situational nature of labor education. In order to realize the value of life-oriented labor education, we should promote the mutual transformation of labor education and life, emphasize the implementation of labor education in real-life, implement labor education based on urban and rural life, and strengthen the overall utilization of labor resources.
Key words:
Labor education; Life-oriented;Education and life
Liang, Y. J. (2023). The Connotation, Value and Practical D i r e c t i o n o f L i f e - O r i e n t e d L a b o r E d u c a t i o n . C ro s s - Cultural Communication, 19(3), 62-67. Available from: http//
w w w. c s c a n a d a . n e t / i n d e x . p h p / c c c / a r t i c l e / v i e w /1 3 0 9 0 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/13090
Labor education is an important bridge for students to connect campus life and social life. It is an indispensable part of students’ all-round development and is very important for students’ healthy growth. The “de-life”
labor education isolates students’ spiritual life and labor life, making them lose the possibility of self-judgment
of intelligence and morality. (Chen, 2021) In this regard, labor education should be “life-oriented”, that is, “life- oriented labor education”, also known as “life-oriented labor education”. Promoting the integration of labor education implementation and student life is to cultivate students’ ability to adapt to social life, so as to promote the effective connection between school education and social life. Based on this, this study aims to explain the basic connotation of labor education into daily life, analyze the value of labor education into daily life, and then explore the practical direction of labor education into daily life, so as to provide theoretical reference for the realization of labor education into daily life.
1 . I N T E R P R E T A T I O N O F T H E CONNOTATION OF LABOR EDUCATION INTO DAILY LIFE
The emergence of schools is a sign of the systematic and standardized development of education. The implementation of labor education with schools as the core is in line with the law of historical development. John Dewey regards education as life, puts forward the concept of “education is life”, and establishes the relationship between education and life. Therefore, linking labor education with life is a concrete expression of Dewey’s educational thought. Therefore, in order to implement labor education, schools must combine labor education with life, that is, to realize the life of labor education, integrate life elements into labor education, and make labor education have the characteristics of life.
1.1 The goal of labor education focuses on the needs of life
The life-oriented labor education refers to the combination of labor and learning, practice and life, and the integration of labor education into daily learning and life, so that students can cultivate their practical ability, practical
ability and innovative consciousness by participating in various practical labor activities, so as to achieve the goal of comprehensive development. In the context of the new era, labor education aims to cultivate students’
labor literacy, including labor concept, labor ability, labor habits and quality, and labor spirit. The cultivation of labor literacy needs to pay attention to “student- oriented” education. “Student-oriented” is to highlight the status of students in education and pay attention to the life of students as “natural persons”. Therefore, the goal of labor education focuses on students’ life, takes students’ life needs as the starting point, and realizes the life-oriented labor education. “Life and education are inseparable, education is the original life, there is life, there is education, the two have identity” (Li and Zhao, 2022). The life-oriented labor education is not separated from the reality of students’ life, but based on students’
life to help students grow healthily in life. Because
“personal experience and experience of the world is not a single, pure, but multiple, situational, diverse, and gradually formed and rich personal life world experience circle” (Wang & Jing, 2021). Therefore, the life of labor education is to take the life needs of students as the goal, and all labor practice activities are closely centered on this goal.
1.2 The content of labor education is related to life practice
As an important practice of the development of human material life and spiritual life, labor is an inevitable path to a better life. The content of labor education is inseparable from life practice. It is necessary to depict the color of life in labor education, enrich the practice of labor education, and give full play to the multiple educational functions of labor education. The life-oriented labor education emphasizes the integration of labor activities into daily learning and life, so that students can feel the importance and significance of labor in real-life. By participating in practical activities such as actual production labor or social service labor, students can experience the process and results of labor and enhance their sense of identity and responsibility for labor. Mr. Tao Xingzhi once said,
“What life, is what education”, “education must be life, all education must be effective through life”. (Dong, 1991) Labor education is based on students’ daily life. It mainly starts from students’ school and off-campus life, creates a labor education environment with life significance, and then improves students’ enthusiasm for participating in labor education. Life-oriented labor education is the key to cultivating students’ practical ability and practical ability. It provides important support for students to apply what they have learned and apply what they have learned to real-life and improve their ability to solve practical problems. The realization of life-oriented labor education is to link the content of labor education with students’
daily life, so as to promote students’ “routine” life
experience, which can not only meet the practical needs of current life, but also prepare students for “perfect life”.
1.3 The implementation of labor education is based on the life field.
The implementation of life-oriented labor education needs to provide students with a realistic labor experience environment. When students are in the real-life field to carry out labor education practice, they can fully feel the charm of labor and realize “physical and mental integration”. By practicing in the real-life field, students can not only cultivate good labor attitudes and values, but also improve their collaborative ability, innovative spirit and teamwork ability. The implementation of life-oriented labor education is a necessary prerequisite for promoting the all-round development of students. In this regard, the implementation of labor education needs to provide students with a realistic labor experience environment to
“restore” the real-life field. In this way, students can carry out labor practice in the actual living environment and feel the reality and significance of labor. The labor education divorced from the life world is in the name of promoting the all-round development of students, but in essence, it is easy to cause the separation of the body and the heart, the hand and the brain of the school, and it is impossible to recognize the value of labor to the individual, society and nature. All the good ideas brought about by labor education have been lost. (Luo & Zhang, 2022) The implementation of life-oriented labor education is not only a necessary prerequisite for promoting students’ all- round development, but also an important way to cultivate future social development. Therefore, the realization of the life of labor education is based on the life of the real- life field, and advocates the implementation of labor education in the space of students’ real-life. Even in the labor school, it is necessary to restore or create a labor space that conforms to the students’ life situation as much as possible.
2. THE VALUE IMPLICATION OF THE LIFE-ORIENTED LABOR EDUCATION
The life-oriented labor education not only provides an opportunity for the connection between school education and social life, but also provides strong support for the development of students’ comprehensive quality.
Through the life of labor education, students can better understand the society, understand themselves, cultivate students’ innovative thinking and problem-solving ability, improve their practical operation and practical experience, and enhance their social adaptability and professional competitiveness. Therefore, promoting labor education to realize life is of great value to students’ personal development and social development.
2.1 Strengthen the sociality of labor education
Education is the product of the development of social division of labor to a certain extent. In this regard, sociality is the inherent attribute of labor education. However, the teaching of labor knowledge and skills and the cultivation of labor attitudes in labor education still follow the path dependence of subject training and exam-oriented education, and believe that all aspects of labor education can be completed in schools without participating in social life. (Chen, 2021) This way has already separated the relationship between school and society, and separated the student’s body from the social situation, resulting in the differentiation of the body and the social situation, which will eventually make labor education fall into the dilemma of the lack of “social attributes”. The life-oriented labor education can break this dilemma, link the content of students’ learning with society, strengthen the sociality of labor education, and promote the coordinated promotion of students’ individualization and socialization. Therefore, the life of labor education can provide a variety of life experiences associated with society, provide students with opportunities to contact the real world, and promote them to gradually understand that “creative labor has become the first need of society”. (Jin & Hu, 2021) “Diversified labor life experience can broaden students” perspective of looking at problems, understand others ‘views and emotions, improve their social communication ability, and help students form a harmonious relationship with the social environment. Mr. Tao Xingzhi believes that “roads, alleys, villages, factories, shops, prisons, battlefields, all places of life are places where we educate ourselves”, which still has important reference significance for current labor education. For example, taking the school as the core, organizing students to the surrounding communities, museums, parks and other important social practice fields to organize students to implement labor education in these fields can effectively cultivate students’ sense of social responsibility, enhance students’ recognition of labor value, and develop necessary labor literacy.
2.2 Highlight the practicality of labor education Practice is the fundamental driving force for creating a better life and innovative labor education (Wu &
Cai, 2021). The practicality of labor education can be understood as putting students in specific practical activities, and improving students’ practical ability and ability to solve practical problems through personal participation and practical operation. The practicality of labor education focuses on direct experience, which emphasizes the perceptibility and operability of the educational process and needs to be realized by specific practical activities rather than abstract thinking. Adhere to the unity of theory and practice is the basic requirement of labor and labor education, is the proper meaning of labor education (Chen & Zhu, 2022). Labor education enables students to master practical skills and enrich their talents and abilities. On the one hand, labor education is
the organic unity of “labor” and “education”. It not only emphasizes labor, but also advocates education. It is a practical activity that needs students’ personal experience.
Carrying out specific practical activities can make students sweat and let labor education really enter the students’
life world. Life-oriented labor education can stimulate students’ creativity and innovation consciousness, cultivate their practical ability and problem-solving ability, and lay a foundation for their future development. On the other hand, the interaction between theory and practice emphasizes that students should enhance the sense of acquisition of labor education in practice. The sense of gain is one of the important evaluation indicators of education, and whether it can achieve a better life has also become an important evaluation criterion for the sense of gain in labor education. The life-oriented labor education highlights the practicality of labor education, which is to promote labor education to be based on practice and return to practice. It not only highlights the educational nature of labor education, but also highlights the purport of educational practice returning to life. Labor education enables students to master practical skills and enrich their talents and abilities. On the one hand, labor education is the organic unity of “labor” and “education”. It not only emphasizes labor, but also advocates education. It is a practical activity that needs students’ personal experience.
Carrying out specific practical activities can make students sweat and let labor education really enter the students’
life world. Life-oriented labor education can stimulate students’ creativity and innovation consciousness, cultivate their practical ability and problem-solving ability, and lay a foundation for their future development.
On the other hand, the interaction between theory and practice emphasizes that students should enhance the sense of acquisition of labor education in practice. The sense of gain is one of the important evaluation indicators of education, and whether it can achieve a better life has also become an important evaluation criterion for the sense of gain in labor education (Liang, 2021). The life- oriented labor education highlights the practicality of labor education, which is to promote labor education to be based on practice and return to practice. It not only highlights the educational nature of labor education, but also highlights the purport of educational practice returning to life.
2.3 Create the situational nature of labor education
The situational nature of situational labor education in creating labor education refers to the ability of students to observe, think and solve problems by creating real situations and allowing students to learn and practice in real situations. The life-oriented labor education can create a situation that conforms to students’ daily life, which is easier to stimulate students’ emotional input and promote the smooth implementation of labor education.
The situational creation of labor education is mainly reflected in two points. First, labor education returns to students’ daily life. Students’ daily life includes school life, family life and social life. These three types of life are integrated into labor education, which can ‘ restore ‘ the real-life situation for students’ learning. In the context, students can directly contact, perceive and experience real objects, tools and work scenes, so as to obtain more intuitive and in-depth learning effects and return to the integration of body and mind. Second, labor education combined with productive labor. Creating the situational nature of labor education can provide students with a real and specific learning environment. Productive labor is a part of the school’s “future life”, so that students can experience labor in the context of productive labor, so that students can intuitively feel the value of productive labor, which is of great significance for the future development of students. Situational learning environment can better mobilize students’ learning motivation and improve their learning initiative and consciousness. Although students are not directly involved in productive labor, the life-oriented labor education aims to provide students with productive labor content, create productive labor conditions, and allow students to experience a more real working environment. Creating the situational nature of labor education can provide students with a real and specific learning environment and promote the development of students’ comprehensive ability.
3. THE PRACTICAL DIRECTION OF THE LIFE-ORIENTED LABOR EDUCATION
The realization of life-oriented labor education is an important part of cultivating students’ core literacy.
The life-oriented labor education organically combines labor education with students’ daily life, so that students can improve their practical ability, practical ability and innovative ability in real-life. In order to achieve this goal, labor education needs to seek an effective way of life, make it fit with students’ life scenes and life experience, and promote labor education to a new level.
3.1 The dual logic of action: to promote the mutual transformation of labor education and life The life-oriented labor education is a high degree of integration of labor and life. It not only integrates the elements of life into labor education, but also realizes the significance of labor education in life. It has dual practical logic, and can be realized by constructing the life of labor education and exploring the labor education of life.
On the one hand, the construction of labor education life is the core element of labor education life. This requires integrating the elements of life into labor education, using the tool of “life” to give vitality to labor education, adhering to the integration of labor education
and campus life, and allowing students to experience life in the process of labor education. The content of labor education needs can be obtained from daily life labor, and the connection between labor education content and students’ existing labor experience can be established.
This way can provide students with meaningful labor education content, so that students have the opportunity to choose their own life-related labor practice.
On the other hand, exploring the labor education of life is an important means of life-oriented labor education.
There are also abundant labor education resources in off- campus life. Labor education should break through the inherent thinking, not limited to the arrangement of school organization, but actively explore and develop the labor education resources in students’ daily life outside school.
That is to say, in addition to the labor education content set up in the school system, there are abundant labor education resources in the daily study of students outside the school, which need to be actively explored and developed.
Therefore, the life-oriented labor education cannot limit the labor education to the organized and planned arrangement of schools. It should break through the inherent thinking of labor education and guide students to learn to participate in labor and take the initiative in life.
In a word, the core of life-oriented labor education is that students understand the essence and significance of labor through the combination of labor practice and life, so as to cultivate students’ active participation, teamwork and innovation ability. In labor education, students understand the value and importance of labor through personal participation and practical operation, and cultivate their practical ability and problem-solving ability. In life, labor education can guide students to develop good qualities of diligence, creativity and responsibility, and cultivate their sense of social responsibility and team spirit. Through the life of labor education, students will have a deeper understanding of the meaning and value of labor, and provide strong support for their personal development and social development.
3.2 The connection between theory and practice:
Emphasizing the implementation of labor education in real-life
Labor education is an organized, planned and purposeful activity, which needs the guidance of relevant labor education theory to achieve the best effect of labor practice. Labor itself is a kind of practice, which needs to be explored in practice to highlight the practicality of labor education. Therefore, “the teaching of basic scientific knowledge and productive labor have their own systems, and the combination of the two should be organic and cannot destroy their respective independent systems” (Tan, 2021). It is necessary to emphasize the implementation of labor education in real-life.
On the one hand, labor education comes from life practice. As an important component of promoting
students’ growth, the content of labor education mainly comes from students’ daily life practice. Therefore, in order to realize the life of labor education, we cannot leave the students’ practical activities. The purpose of labor education is to cultivate students’ labor literacy, including labor concept, labor ability, labor habits and quality, and labor spirit. These qualities mainly come from students’ real-life. By cultivating these labor qualities, students can form correct values, necessary characters and key abilities that meet the needs of individual lifelong development and social development. In this regard, cultivating labor literacy can promote students to form correct values, necessary characters and key abilities that meet the needs of individual lifelong development and social development. Therefore, the content selection of labor education should be based on campus life, family life and social life, and explore the best way to cultivate students’ labor literacy. In campus life, we can cultivate students’ labor concept and labor ability by carrying out various labor practice activities, such as pruning flowers and plants, cleaning sanitation, etc. In family life, students can be encouraged to participate in housework, such as cooking, washing clothes, etc., to cultivate students’
working habits and quality. In social life, students can be organized to participate in community service activities, such as compulsory labor, volunteer activities, etc., to cultivate students’ labor spirit.
On the other hand, labor education returns to life practice. Marxism believes that theory and practice are interactive and interdependent. Only by combining theory with practice can we truly realize the unity of knowledge and practice. Therefore, the implementation of labor education should take meeting the needs of real-life as the starting point, realize the scientific transformation from labor concept to labor practice through practice, and realize the integration of personal learning and life in a real sense. There are many choices for the transformation path of labor education practice. The school-based independent research and development path is conducive to the connotative development of school labor education.
Through the school ‘s independent formulation of the content and form of labor education, it can better meet the needs of students. The cooperative development path of inter-school communication can also realize the coordinated development of labor education. Through the cooperation and exchange between schools, we can share experience, resources and achievements together and promote the all-round development of labor education.
3 . 3 T h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f r e g i o n a l d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n : b a s e d o n t h e a c t u a l implementation of labor education in urban and rural life
The integration of urban and rural education is not the integration of “homogenization”, but the integration of
“differentiation”. Therefore, the premise of exploring the
integrated development of urban and rural education is to seek the coordinated development of urban education and rural education. As an important component of school education, the effective implementation of labor education must be based on the differentiation of urban and rural life practice.
First, in rural areas, based on local life, the development and construction of labor courses. First of all, we can make use of the characteristic culture of the rural field to formulate labor courses suitable for rural life, which not only conforms to the actual life and characteristics of the times of students, but also can effectively combine knowledge and skills to promote the all-round development of students. Secondly, to cultivate the awareness of social participation in labor practice, we can organize and build a diversified labor practice platform through rural leading cadres, and actively promote the advanced deeds of labor models and labor experts to stimulate students’ labor enthusiasm. Thirdly, we can combine rural characteristics, take the deeds of rural advanced figures as a model, carry forward the spirit of model workers and the spirit of craftsmen, and form a labor education system with rural characteristics.
Second, in urban areas, based on the advantages of modern resources, labor education with modern life characteristics is carried out. First of all, in order to realize the information construction of labor practice results, an assessment platform can be established so that students can upload their daily labor process to the system, and systematically record and summarize students’ labor participation. Secondly, we should keep up with the pace of the times and explore a new labor curriculum mechanism. Tao Xingzhi’s concept of “life is education”
is still of the times. On this basis, we can actively use cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies to create new forms of labor education in urban areas. For example, a virtual reality labor education course can be set up to enable students to simulate various labor practices on the screen and improve their operational skills and innovative thinking. Thirdly, build a cloud platform for labor education wisdom practice, empower labor education through technology, realize effective links between labor education inside and outside the classroom, inside and outside the campus, urban and rural areas, and break through the dilemma of local participation in labor education for primary and secondary school students (He and Xia, 2022).
3.4 Collaborative promotion of home-school- community: strengthen the overall utilization of labor resources of all parties
The complexity of labor education and the conditionality of practice determine that the effective promotion of labor education cannot be achieved independently by the school itself (Ban, 2021). Therefore, labor education is limited to the single force of the school, but also the support of
the family and society, to tap the advantages of all aspects of resources, to achieve the life of labor education, and to promote the comprehensive and healthy growth of students.
One is that for families, the effective participation of parents is an indispensable factor in realizing the life of labor education. As an important part of social life, parents “support and understanding are the external guarantee for students” labor education to move towards life. On the one hand, parents should actively recognize and understand the value of life-oriented labor education, actively cooperate and communicate with schools, build a platform for cooperation between home and school labor education, and provide students with labor education in family life. On the other hand, parents should cooperate with and participate in the school ‘s plan to implement labor education, actively guide students to provide life experience of family labor education, integrate labor education experience into students “real-life, and give full play to the role of parents” life experience.
The second is for the society, to fully tap the potential labor education resources, so that students can grow in the community. Dewey pointed out: Society can only do its duty in case it is committed to the successful growth of all its members (Dewey, 1994). Therefore, the following three points should be grasped in the life of labor education. First, the development and integration of labor education resources in the community should be paid attention to, and the teaching content conducive to the realization of life should be screened to meet the labor experience of students’ daily life. Of course, through reasonable coordination, strengthening the connection between schools and society, and introducing labor education resources in society into school construction, it can provide external support for school labor education.
Instead, it introduces the high-quality “teachers” of the society into the school, plays its role in social practice, and makes up for the lack of teachers in school labor education and the low quality of teachers, so as to ensure that students can “eat and drink” in school labor education.
The third is to guide students to the society, personal observation and experience, field visits and research, but also in some comprehensive practice teaching base and labor education venues to learn and practice. These all need to deeply grasp the needs of students’ physical and mental development, take the all-round development of students as the purpose, and highlight the unique value of community labor education resources.
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